Shatner Was Never Actually Mad at J.J. Abrams

The legend talks to us about being "really okay" with Star Trek, and his new wine show

"I'm using wine as a way to explore the psyche of each of my guests," William Shatner, the legendary Star Trek captain, now the host of Ora.TV's Brown Bag Wine Tasting, tells me when I catch up with him about his latest television venture. "It's a jazz conversation using viral media as the means of sending the message."

A strange pitch for a show? Not if you're William Shatner.

Shatner has proved himself over the years, if nothing else, a restless spirit. Beyond the starship Enterprise, he's an acclaimed documentarian, author, and keen interviewer, on Shatner's Raw Nerve on the Biography Channel. His spoken-word albums are infamous, and last year he released a progressive rock album, featuring Al Di Meola and members of Yes, among others. With more projects in various stages of production than most 83-year-olds should be allowed, Shatner is no stranger to putting himself out there, and Brown Bag Wine Tasting is just the latest example of that.

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"I did interview some celebrities, but it's also a man-on-the-street show," Shatner explains of the premise. "I got a construction worker who was working on the street talk about wine in traffic terms. I had the saxophone player Dave Koz play 15 or 20 seconds of jazz to describe how the wine tasted. And I had a guy who delivers marijuana, who'd never tasted wine, come alive because after the first taste of a Chardonnay he said, 'I'll never do that again.' But then after the second and third tries he said, 'Yeah, I'm beginning to get it.' All of a sudden I see this young guy who is now open to all these new sensations come alive on camera."

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For anyone familiar with Raw Nerve, it will come as no surprise that more often than not during our interview, the gregarious star turned the tables on me.

"If you were a guest on my show I'd have you describe the wine in terms of the quality of an interview," Shatner says, before I can get my next question out. "Is it a tough interview? Is it loquacious? Is it monosyllabic? Tell me about the wine, but describe it in terms of an interview? And then out of that I'd get you to talk about what is a tough interview and who is a tough subject, even if you couldn't tell me their name."

Perhaps the best part of the show is seeing Shatner, a person (and character) you feel you know so well, light up when he hits on something new and exciting. Though remarkably Shatner describes himself as shy.

"But I love ideas," he explains. "I love to explore anything that's going on in our culture. Just imagine the sensation of finding out some nugget that didn't exist just a few seconds ago, and finding that out on camera so that other people can witness it and experience that discovery with you. It's enormously satisfying and probably the most exciting part of my job."

And how does he look back on his Star Trek legacy, now that so much time has passed? "I never got a surge of adrenaline when someone would mention Captain Kirk," Shatner admits. "But I'm always trying to discover something about myself, whether I'm doing the interviewing or I'm being interviewed. I've always been okay with Star Trek, but I'd say I'm really okay with it now. I don't have a conscious knowledge of those days, I've gone on to other things, I just played Vegas and toured a one-man show and I'm working on documentaries — but I'm aware that when I meet people who love Star Trek that a lot of what I do is possible because of how significant it is to so many people. Their questions help me to find a truth within myself, and I'm really grateful for that." (Shatner has an upcoming documentary, Chaos on the Bridge, about the madness that ensued during the first two years of the making of Star Trek: The Next Generation.)

As for his public mock-spat with current Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, Shatner confirms it was all in fun.

"Oh, we're just kidding around," Shatner says. "He's such a great talent and I've taken him out to lunch a few times. I would have loved to have been in one of the movies. But how do you put the aging Captain Kirk in the modern-day telling? Besides, Chris Pine is so wonderful now as Captain Kirk."

"Ultimately, Captain Kirk has opened so many doors for me — so many opportunities — that there's no way I could be anything but grateful," Shatner reflects as we wrap things up. "People are comfortable with me and open up to me in almost everything I do because they feel like they know me, and in a way they do, but that really has been priceless to have in my back pocket. But right now I'm going to go ride my horses and play with my dogs. That's really what my days are about when I have time off."

Brown Bag Wine Tasting consists of 5-10 minute web episodes, with a new release each Monday. Here's an exclusive clip of musician Chris Dane Owens from next week's show: